


March 30, 2015 (and beyond)

by Phinmeister



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-20
Updated: 2016-02-20
Packaged: 2018-05-22 05:57:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6067714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Phinmeister/pseuds/Phinmeister
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An abandoned and doomed Earth - after everyone leaves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	March 30, 2015 (and beyond)

March 30, 2015.

The air was filled with an unnatural silence, so different from how it had once been - but then again, everything was different from how it had once been. In that moment, it was nearing dusk, and after a day filled with moderate temperatures a crisp chill was beginning to arise.

In a small town by the sea in the southwest United States, there were no signs of life, although there were definitely signs that some massive form of life had recently taken residence in the area. A number of buildings that had once housed shops, homes, and everything imaginable, were now long since emptied and abandoned. Their innards were hidden behind a cheery glass window, reflecting a sense of bare dilapidation, but also emanating the truth: that, like all abandoned stores, the owners had simply picked up and, quite literally, left shop. Cars were thoughtlessly strewn every which way on the street, abandoned forever, some tucked quietly away in garages, others left to rust against the sidewalk. A bird flew by, chirping thoughtlessly, unaware that it had been left behind.

The wind caught hold of a piece of paper that had fallen to the ground not long before. It sailed through the air, passing by the abandoned shops and cars, making its way through the town, never to be picked up by a living soul. It was not the only one who shared this fate; the remains of colorful streamers and banners that had once symbolized celebration and joy at the prospect of a new beginning certainly didn't look that way anymore. Some floating bits of colorful paper flitted around, while some banners still remained attached to ropes, the tops of buildings, the insides of windows, and anywhere else one could look.

It was a bizarre scene, and if any alien being were to come to Earth and gaze upon it they would surely not have a clue what any of it meant. Was it an ill-fated ghost town, its inhabitants predestined to die off, leaving only their material possessions behind? Was it a grand party, one in which everyone joined in, where everyone had gone off to further their celebrations somewhere else? And how long had everyone been missing?

The final glittering rays of sunlight peeked through the buildings, alleyways, and trees, bathing the ground, intruding into the shops, and painting everything with a golden glow. It was a constant in a mystery, the one clue to the universe's permanence. The sky began to fade from a deeper shade of blue to periwinkle with tinges of yellow. Papers continued to dash around and go amok, structures began to decay, and everything slowly faded into the background. Eventually, the whole world went black.

Over time, everything would become nothing. What had survived would die off, and what had died off would not emerge again. Clocks ticked, and the tides rose and fell, and the world was left in a position of waiting. 

After such a long, continuous period of rush and uproar, everything upon it moving about with no final destination in mind, the planet was finally beginning to settle in to its still, silent fate. It would take years before all the grass grew, all the leaves fell, and all the rain would wash away the mess that they had left, but for now it was everywhere, just sitting on the ground or floating around. No one was there to pick it up, and no one would ever be there again, so there was little reason to commiserate the poor, disheveled end of what had once been a great sight to see, but it was all undoubtedly nothing but lonely.

It was peaceful in an eerie way, with an air of it all being too abrupt. 

-

May 3, 2015.

For two sweet, short days, two men came to the planet for the simple reason that they would be the sole inhabitants, and the opportunity to explore such a truly deserted land would probably never happen again. They had the means and time to do so - in fact, they had quite literally all the time in the world - and so they ventured off to the last place where one of the men had been, in that small town by the sea, overlooking a vista that stretched for miles of hills and mountains and dirt, dirt, and dirt. They laughed, they yelled out into the nothingness to hear their voices echo, they ran around and left footprints that would stay there until the wind and sand dusted them over. 

The duo hurriedly climbed down to the beach and stayed there for quite some time, walking and jumping into the waves as they crashed and ebbed, leaving even more footprints embedded in the warm sand. Eventually they sat down side by side to watch the sun set over the seemingly endless horizon of the ocean; they were quiet, not as eager to disturb the peace of an unpopulated Earth.

"There aren't any people on this planet besides you and me, and there's still a sunset."

Of course they were cognizant of the fact that they were quite literally entirely alone; it was never completely off their minds. But still, he was right; despite the fact that everyone was gone, the natural wonders continued as usual.

"This planet will blow up in a year. There won't be anything left. But it doesn't know that." 

"And there's still a sunset."

"Yeah."

"A sunset with no one to watch it."

The Earth didn't know it was approaching its demise; the Earth didn't know it was putting on a show for no reason; the Earth continued on through each revolution following the same pattern it always had, careless of its audience, unaware of its future. Did it matter if it were the end? Did it matter if it were all relatively a waste? 

Apparently not.

"Do you ever feel like it was all for nothing?"

"Hm?"

"Everything you did. Collecting all the plants and stuff. Not just you, even - everyone, working together to save what they could. Was that all for nothing if you've got all this new life to discover? And if all this is going to die?"

"I don't think so. Maybe, y'know, objectively it is all useless. But we saved what we could, because we're sentimental, I guess."

"Hm. Sentimental. Is that why we chose to come all this way just to watch a sunset?"

"Well, not just for the sunset."

"You know what I mean."

A pause.

"Maybe it is."

-

December 20, 2015.

The two men were long since gone, enjoying their everyday lives, far far away from the Earth, in relative comfort, warmth, and security. The Earth itself was once again abandoned and desolate, but now enveloped in even more silence due to the heavy blankets of glistening snow that had been falling without care to the ground. The sun still shone, casting its brilliant light on the snow and causing it to just so slightly melt into the sodden dirt. Trees that had miraculously not fallen to decompose stood as tall as ever, and the sun shone through the branches of those as well. All surfaces reflected the light and lit up a scene that would otherwise have been plagued with shadows. 

At that moment, it was just under a year and a half until every small spectacle on the planet would be gone. It would still all be there, of course, meandering around in the blank darkness of space, perhaps coming together to form some other miracle of life. It would look far different from the magnificent accumulation it was and had been for billions of years, of course, but all the materials would be there. Everything would still be there, just not there.

This meant nothing to anyone, certainly not the former inhabitants of Earth, who were by now safe and sound far away in a sanctuary that wasn't destined to blow up. Everything that had once thrived was there no more, and everything that had happened, whether good or bad, had been forgotten. It was almost sad to think about, but then again, that was how life functioned. Nothing was exempt from rising and falling, and every little section of the universe was part of its own cycle. 

-

December 20, 2018.

"Do you ever miss living like you used to?"

"In what way?"

"You know. Not here."

"Not with you?"

"Well, I wasn't with you before, that's true..."

"Then I don't miss it."

"Everything else, then. The physical stuff, you know, home. On good old Earth."

"Ah." A pause, a deliberation. "Yeah... Hm. It's gone now."

"Is it?"

"Has been for.. oh, when did they say? Middle of 2017, I think. So about a year and a half, right? Yeah, it's all gone. ...Do I miss it? Yeah, sometimes. Certain things."

"Like what?"

Another pause, then: "Snow. Certain beaches. The usual."

"We have that here."

"It's not the same."

"Of course it isn't."


End file.
